Sage To Sell Off Two CRM Applications

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The Sage Group is selling its SalesLogix CRM and Sage Act! contact management applications as the company continues its efforts to slim down its line of software products and focus on its core applications.

Sage also is selling off its Sage Nonprofit Solutions product suite, the company said Friday, and four product suites sold in Europe.

The company said the sale has an aggregate price of 93.4 million pounds (U.S. $145 million), of which 81.9 million pounds (U.S. $127 million) is payable in cash on completion. The cash proceeds will be returned to shareholders, but the company will record a loss on the deal.

At its annual conference in August, Sage North America executives outlined a plan to focus its development efforts on a limited number of "core" applications and reduce its investment -- and possibly phase out -- a number of products.

The company has designated its ERP, accounting and payroll applications as "core," along with applications that are integrated with those software packages. Those include application suites popular with channel partners, such as Sage 100 ERP and Sage 300 ERP for midsize customers and the Sage ERP X3 suite for big companies.

The applications being sold off "were diluting our ability to invest in our core businesses," said Himanshu Palsule, Sage North America CTO and head of the company's strategy, in an interview.

"The sale of these non-core products is consistent with our strategy of focusing our business to accelerate growth and demonstrates significant progress in streamlining the portfolio, allowing regional management to focus on the considerable growth opportunities within their core markets," said Guy Berruyer, CEO of The Sage Group, the U.K.-based parent of Sage North America, in a statement.

Palsule said there are no immediate plans to sell off other Sage products.